Swinging
by Darkwolf109
Summary: A prank gone wrong reveals just why Belle transfered to St. Trinians. Kelly/Belle if you squint. WARNING: Dark themes though i don't think it rates 'M'.


**A/N:**** So this is a little darker and while it has a little Kelly/Belle in it, and I mean a little, it's mostly about Annabelle and an idea of what might have brought her to St Trinians. I might eventually turn it into a multi fic or just write a sequel. But that's a big maybe. I wrote this randomly so no planning has gone into it. Hope you like it.**

**Swinging.**

It was the high-pitched, terror filled scream of someone convinced they were about to die.

Everyone in the dinning hall looked up in shock at the sound. While it wasn't uncommon to hear a scream in the halls of St. Trinian's, it was un-usual to hear that type of scream. Most pranks inspired the 'oh my god that was scary' type of scream. So naturally everyone was curious to see what had inspired such a terrifying scream to echo through their halls. The sound of hundreds of girls scrabbling to move filled the hall as everyone stumbled to see what the drama was. Leading the charge was their fearless Kelly Jones. Who had noticed the only girl missing from the meal was the new girl, Annabelle Fritton.

'This should be interesting.' She thought with a smug smirk.

Annabelle Fritton screamed.

She screamed as loud as she could as her body was suddenly flung into the air and hung over the middle of the stairwell.

Suddenly the walls of St. Trinian's disappeared from around her as the cold bathroom walls of Cheltenham appeared in their place.

Cold laughter filled her ears as she desperately clawed at her neck.

The rope burned as she tried with all her might to loosen the noose around her neck, screaming with the last of her breath, hoping against hope a teacher would hear her and rescue her.

"Now we'll finally be rid of you freak. You don't belong here. No one wants you. Not even your daddy."

Verity's voice filled her head.

"You're useless. We'll hold a party when you're finally gone. You can scream all you like freak. No one's coming."

Helplessness flooded her body.

'Oh god! She's really going to kill me this time. This isn't like the time she tried to drown me. She means it this time. And she's going to get away with it."

The all encompassing fear took over her body and she thrashed and clawed at the rope, screaming bloody murder as the laughter continued on. And that was when she realized, she wasn't screaming. Her throat was raw and she tried to make sound but her breath was gone. Instead of the possible life-saving screams, all that came out was chocked gasps as her struggles started to cease and her vision slowly blackened. Harsh chocked pants gave way to slow, dry gasps that weren't even gasps; no air was getting to her lungs no matter how hard she tried.

She realized Verity and her friends were long gone, too much of a group of cowards to stick around and watch their murder succeed.

A loud bang and a scream as her vision turned black.

The St. Trinian girl's spilled out into the hall and laughed as they spotted the thrashing figure that was hoisted in the air by a hook to the back of her shirt. Even Kelly Jones cracked a grin before noticing that something wasn't right. The new girl wasn't trying to remove the hook. In fact, it looked like she was…clawing…at her neck.

A sudden scream that didn't belong to the new girl pieced the air and everyone turned to see their beloved Headmistress turn several shades of white.

"Get her down! NOW! Get her down!" she screamed, startling the girls.

They had never, not once, seen their Headmistress so furious and Kelly Jones realized that there was something serious going on that she didn't know about.

And that's when the students noticed blood streaming from the new girls neck as she screamed.

Miss Fritton tore up the stairs.

"Annabelle! Annabelle breath! It's not around your neck! You're not at Cheltenham! Get her DOWN!" She screamed at them.

And it clicked as Kelly Jones realized what was happening.

Annabelle thought she was being straggled. She didn't realize she was hanging by her blouse and not her neck.

And she was tearing open her throat in an effort to remove a non-existent rope.

"Anoushka! Get her the hell down now!" she yelled.

The Russian tore up the stairs and grabbed the end of the rope holding Annabelle's shirt that was connected to the wall and quickly loosed the rope until Jelly was able to grab the girl and pull her over the rail to safety on the floor.

By that stage the girl was making harsh chocking noises and her eyes had rolled up in her head though she was still conscious, just lost in a memory and having a panic attack.

"Get her to the medical room immediately." Miss Fritton ordered.

Kelly herself took charge of the girl, lifting her up hand running as fast as she could to her ordered destination. It was then she realized just how light the girl in her arms was.

'Christ! The girl has to be anorexic! I can practically feel her bones!' she thought.

It suddenly occurred to her there might be a reason the girl wore long sleeves and jumpers and why she skipped meals.

'Did I really miss all this because I didn't want people to think I was favoring the Headmistresses niece? Have I failed in my job as Head Girl that badly?' she wondered.

Reaching the medical wing she lay Annabelle down on a bed as Matron (thankfully sober for once) rushed over to attend to the younger girls mutilated throat.

"Don't quite a lot of damage here. Screamed herself raw as well. Be lucky not to have serious scaring. What the hell happened? She seems to have had a panic attack brought on by a flashback. Very serious." She muttered, trying to bandage up the young girls wounds.

All the students had been kicked out but Kelly had remained hidden in the shadows, if there was a serious issue with one of her girls then she needed to know it.

The slight miss beat of her heart at Matrons words reminded her that she might have a slight emotional reason for being there as well.

'Okay. So maybe I have a slight crush on the girl. Right now isn't the time to be thinking about this. I can't help the girl if I don't know what the problem is so bloody focus Jones.' She reprimanded herself.

Miss Fritton sighed as Annabelle made a gurgling sound, some blood coming up as she coughed.

"The reason she transferred here is because of an incident at Cheltenham. Or rather one incident too many. My worthless brother can ignore and buy his way out of many things, the bloody snake, but the school decided it would be safer for Annabelle if she were removed from Cheltenham to start afresh. Apparently she had no friends so their was no reason not to move her." She explained tightly.

"What was the 'incident' miss?" Kelly asked, unable to stop herself from asking.

Miss Fritton turned to stare at her sternly.

This can not leave this room miss Jones. If Annabelle wants people to know she will tell them herself. I normally wouldn't say anything but maybe you can ensure we do not have a repeat of this?" she said sternly.

Kelly nodded as did Matron.

"When Annabelle was at Cheltenham, right from day one Thwaits Jr. took a dislike to her. No one knows why but she made Annabelle's life a living hell. It was insults at first, and then Annabelle would turn up after taking a beating. No one could prove it was Thwaits and Annabelle didn't say a word in case it got worse. It did anyway. They tried to drown her to begin with, almost succeeded that time but pulled her up last minute. The incident that lead to today's episode was the last though. The art teacher found her hanging in the third floor bathroom. The fact she had nail marks on her neck showed it wasn't an attempt at suicide but they couldn't prove anything. The school expelled her for mental stability just to insure my snake brother wouldn't ignore the problem anymore and move her somewhere safer. I imagine the moment she found herself hanging above the ground she had a flashback of the incident that caused her to do this today." Miss Fritton explained sadly.

She sighed and looked up.

"I better deal with the girls. Miss Jones, I trust you will look after Annabelle for me. She may not be a St. Trinian yet but she has the spirit and the survivor's instincts necessary to make it here." She said.

At Kelly's nod she left the room to deal with the rest of her students.

Kelly stood back and watched as Matron finished up and left to get a strong drink.

She just stood there, staring at the broken girl.

A slight whimper suddenly filled the quiet room and Kelly moved forward as Annabelle started to twitch. She gently grasped the younger girl's hand.

"Hey. It's okay. You're safe. You're at St. Trinians." She said softly.

Another whimper. A flinch.

"Hey. You're okay. It's me. It's Kelly. You're gonna be okay. I'm gonna keep you safe." She whispered.

Annabelle's body relaxed at her touch and the sound of her voice.

The barest sigh.

"Kelly."

For some reason this broken girl had wormed her way into Kelly's hear and she felt a desperate need to protect her, and not just because she promised Miss Fritton.

She was unknowingly going to be Annabelle's first friend. Something she had always wanted and longed for. Things were about to change but no matter what; Kelly was going to be there for the new girl. She was going to protect her.


End file.
